9/11
 

I was in a design agency in London, finishing off some artwork for a pitch the following day. It was a classic last minute rush atmosphere, made more urgent by the importance of winning this particular contract. Just after midday, several people went out to get lunch. I stayed behind with a few others to try and stay on top of things. Taking a break and browsing the news, one of the guys on loan from our Chicago office looked up from his desk and said something like "Oh man, that's one dumbass pilot!" prompting us stragglers to head over to the BBC news website to read something about a small light aircraft having ploughed into one of the towers. It was obviously news enough for me to stop listening to the communal music and stick my headphones on instead to follow events, where they were discussing how puzzling it was, given the clear air and blue sky over NYC right now. The instant we heard the first tower had collapsed, all of us in the studio swarmed down to the middle floor glued to the big TV, and just watched open-mouthed. Didn't get as much work done that day as we'd intended. I remember the journey home was weird. Commuters everywhere on their phone. A very odd atmosphere.

Re: 9/11
 

Re: 9/11
 

That's kinda weird or something, huh?

Re: 9/11
 

I had started middle school about a month beforehand and we had this technology classroom (that come to think of it would be extremely outdated now), and we were just getting started logging into the computers when the principal came over the intercom and said "all teachers please turn to channel so-and-so immediately". We didn't know what was going on at all, including the teacher, so he cut it on and we saw the first tower billowing in smoke. We kept watching until the plane flew into the second tower and both towers went down. The school then went into this weird mode, I mean, there wasn't really any plan for "what if the country gets attacked by terrorists?" you know, no one really thinks of it. Right after Columbine and all, of course, we had a plan and drills for if someone came on campus or was near campus with a gun. So basically we had a bunch of trailers outside that we had classes in, that for some reason, we were not permitted to go out there— they told everyone to stay inside the main building and all the classes out there were moved to other rooms—like the home ec room was where we held my fifth period class. But at the same time they called all the parents and told them they could pick us up.

Honestly, the whole day, I didn't really know what to think. I kind of tried to laugh it off, and I drew pictures of like, buses and trains flying into the towers, because of how absurd it was, you know? I didn't know anyone that was in the attacks so I wasn't directly affected by it, but it just messed up my sixth grader head. We were going to get picked up in the car line out in front of the school and I was telling this kid how funny I thought it was, and he said "Dude. Ten thousand people died today. It's not funny." and that's when it really hit me.

So the van came to take us to the after school program, where my brother was, and before we got out Amy, the gal who ran the program said "the elementary school kids don't know what happened— don't tell them, leave it to their parents". I remember standing in the playground watching all the kids playing and I felt like I was Jeremiah before the invasion of the Babylonians, that I bore this terrible information but in a way there was nothing I can do about it. My dad picked me up late, and when I got home I went to the kitchen table and wrote up a will. It basically went like "I leave my tapes and CDs to Dad, Noah gets my clothes, and Grandpa can have my camera". I don't know why I thought that I would get killed and they would survive, but I wasn't really thinking straight. I went to sleep scared.

Re: 9/11
 

I was sitting at my desk, possibly learning for uni, or, more credibly, perusing the Internet for effective procrastination. A friend phoned me and told me something to the like of, "Airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center" (don't remember if it was before or after the second one had hit). At first I put it off as a joke, not being able to compute the news. Turning on CNN, I started to grasp it. A certain fascination and, at the same time, numbness seized me. The only label I can retrospectively attach to the situation and feeling is "unreal".